GPhC fitness to practise and racial bias

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) will trial redacted fitness to practise reports to guard against racial bias.

It has been reported that, from September 2020, the GPhC will trial redacting any information that might identify a pharmacist’s ethnicity from documents that are seen by fitness to practise investigating committees.

A spokesperson for the GPhC said: “There have been many reports that the BAME community have been over-represented at FTP proceedings by health regulators for many years.

“At the GPhC, the adjudication services team has committed to delivering a project to scope unbiased investigating committee decisions along with help from the equality, diversity and inclusion team. This project will be part of a broader approach aimed at delivering effective, consistent and fair pharmacy regulation.”

The GPhC’s register is made up of 45% registrants who identify as BAME, 45% identify as white and 10% give no ethnicity.

The Pharmaceutical Journal reported that almost half (47%) of the 200 pharmacists suspended or removed from the pharmacy register between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2018, were black, Asian or from an ethnic minority (BAME).